James Loffet finishes 3rd in Hardelot France
Tuesday 28 May 2019
On Sunday Cheltenham based James Loffet secured 3rd place in the Europa Cup Grand Prix at the CSIV-B veterans show at Hardelot in northern France.
There were thirteen clears in the first round and the three fastest competitors with 4 faults also went forward to the second round which was against the clock over a nine fence course requiring ten jumping efforts.
The order of jumping for the second round was decided by faults and time in the first round so that the fastest clear round from round one was last to go. Only two of the sixteen riders in round two managed a double clear and last year’s winner Sabine Lorquet of France was again the victor with the fastest time of all. She set her he pace with a daring turn inside to an over which nobody else managed.
Going fifth in the second round, James Loffet riding his 14 year old Dutch bred gelding Aramus was second fastest but at the expense of one pole down going into the double at fence 6. This was good enough for 3rd place and valuable points in the veterans annual league. 2nd place went to Benedicte Dewez of Belgium who, going last, abandoned the clock to successfully jump clear.
